Several streaks continued for the Allen Americans as they lost 4-3 to the Colorado Eagles last night before a crowd of 4049 at the Budweiser Events Center in Loveland, Colorado.
- The Americans lost for the fourth straight time and have lost six of their last seven games. Their record now stands at 4-7.
- For the seventh time in 11 games the Americans gave up the first goal of the game. They are 0-7 when their opponents score first. When Allen scores first they are 4-0.
- Slow starts continue to plague the Americans and last night was no exception as they allowed a shorthanded goal at the 3:46 mark of the first period.
- Special teams continue to be a problem as two of the Colorado four goals came on special teams, the shorthanded goal and a power play goal.
- Coach Martinson is not a big believer in moral victories but there was some progress last night. After giving up the early shorty the Americans scored a power play goal of their own on Matt Willows fourth of the season at 17:46 of the first period. A minute later Allen took a 2-1 lead when Greger Hanson scored his sixth of the season as he deflected a shot from the point by Harrison Ruopp.
- When Colorado scored the equalizer early in the second period, Allen came right back 41 seconds later to take a 3-2 lead when Jake Marchment (3) poked in the puck as it was laying in the crease.
- The third period was all Colorado as they tied the score 3-3 just 25 seconds into the period and got the game winner on the power play as former Allen defensemen Matt Register was the hero. The Americans managed just four shots on goal in the third period.
- After the game co-captain Gary Steffes summed it up this way, "We felt and found some life tonight for a good portion of the game. When you are battling through stretches like this, you have to cling to things like that and build off it. Obviously we have a lot to be accountable for and we will learn from it. This is a resilient group. I have full confidence we will get through this."
STEVE MARTINSON'S POST GAME COMMENTS
- The shorthanded goal to begin the game was a tough start. Giving up a three on two from our blue line is not good enough.
- We had the one good power play goal but otherwise we are not showing enough speed through the neutral zone.
- I think a few of our guys struggled with the thin air at this altitude but that isn't an excuse.
- On the winning power play goal I thought it was a soft call but it was a soft penalty kill on our part. Colorado was just 1-5 on the power play but we did not do a good job on the power play goal that won the game.
OTHER COMMENTS
- Defenseman Harrison Ruopp had two assists in his first game with the Americans after spending the last few weeks in San Jose.
- Matt Willows scored his fourth goal in five games since being assigned by San Jose. His four goals are tied with Spencer Asuchak for second on the team. Greger Hanson leads with six goals.
- The team spent the night in Colorado and will make the 470 mile trip to Utah today for games against the Grizzlies on Friday and Saturday.
- With the win last night Colorado took over the lead in the Mountain Division with 13 points. It is still early but the Mountain Division has been the weakest in the league thus far.
- The Tulsa Oilers won again last night and now have 20 points on a 10-2 record. They have four more points than any other team in the league. The best winning percentage in the ECHL belongs to Florida (.938). The Everblades have only played eight games and have a record of 7-0-1-0.
- It was a big night for Casey Pierro-Zabotel and Matt Register who were part of the Americans Kelly Cup championship last season. Casey had two assists in the game and Matt scored the game winning goal. They also received their championship rings which the team brought along on the trip.
DID YOU KNOW: The Allen special teams have gotten off to a very slow start with the power play at 6.4% and the penalty kill at 80.4%. The Americans had the best power play in the ECHL last season converting on 21.1% of their opportunities but did you know early in the season the power play struggled. One year ago today the power play percentage was at 12.5%. What saved the team last season was a great start on the penalty kill. A year ago today the penalty kill percentage was at 94.4%.
The mighty have fallen. Tough when everyone is used to a winning team. Lot of hockey left to get things heading in a winning direction.
ReplyDeleteAllen needs to stay out of the penalty box. It seems opponents are scoring more often in a power play than 5 on 5. I don't have the stats but it seems like if we don't give up goals on the power play we would win these games.
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